PlayPenn Sets Works for Annual New Play Development Conference

(Philadelphia, PA) PlayPenn, Philadelphia's nationally recognized professional new play development organization, will hold its 11th annual New Play Development Conference from July 7 - July 26, 2015 at Drexel University in Philadelphia. The Conference, including three weeks of intensive work on six works-in-progress, will offer staged readings open to the public. The six selected plays and playwrights are:

Giantess by Genne Murphy
Human Error by Eric Pfeffinger
Oslo by JT Rogers
Prince Max's Trewly Awful Trip to the Desolat Interior by Ellen Struve
White by James Ijames
Widower by David J. Jacobi

Now in it's 11th year, PlayPenn's Conference received a record 750 applications from playwrights across the country which were narrowed by a cadre of nearly 80 readers from Philadelphia's diverse professional theatre community to a list of 30 semi-finalists. Semi-finalist plays and playwrights were narrowed further through an elaborate evaluation process by a group of artistic leaders, literary managers, and dramaturgs from across the country. This year's Conference finalists numbered 14.

"I'm thrilled that this year's selected plays and playwrights include returning writers like James, JT, and Eric who have made great use of this process alongside new faces Ellen, Genne, and David who will help create a rich dynamic at our Conference," says Paul Meshejian, founder and Artistic Director of PlayPenn."I'm equally excited that we have invited two plays by Philadelphia playwrights James Ijames and Genne Murphy. I'm confident all the plays workshopped and read this summer will become part of the American theatre repertory, as have the majority of the nearly 100 plays we've developed over the past 10 years."

The chosen playwrights will bring their works-in-progress to Philadelphia for in-depth work with a professional director of their choice, dramaturgical and design assistance, and collaboration with professional actors from the Philadelphia theatre community. Prior to the three-week rehearsal period, PlayPenn hosts a three-day retreat for conference playwrights, directors, and dramaturgs, which contributes to the camaraderie and festive atmosphere of what has become Philadelphia's most popular theatrical event each summer. The Conference includes a series of free public staged readings, which routinely command an extensive waiting list. A complete schedule of readings will be released in May at www.playpenn.org and reservations will open to the general public on July 1.

About the 2015 Conference Playwrights:
James Ijames is a Philadelphia playwright, actor and director. His play The Most Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington was developed at PlayPenn in 2013, was a selection for the NNPN New Play Festival and received its world premiere with Flashpoint Theatre in 2014. James is a founding member of Orbiter 3 where his new play, Moon Man Walk, will receive its world premiere July 2015. James is an Interact Theatre Core Writer, an Arden Theatre commissioned playwright and Assistant Professor of Theater at Villanova University. He resides in South Philadelphia.

David Jacobi's plays have been performed throughout the U.S. and in China, including the Peter Jay Sharp Theater, FringeNYC, and Penghao Theatre. His work has been developed at Portland Center Stage's JAW Festival, Cutting Ball Theater's RISK IS THIS, Great Plains Theatre Conference, WordBRIDGE, Kennedy Center, and The Flea. He is the recipient of the Holland New Voices Award and the Kennedy Center Theatre for Young Audiences Award. He is currently enrolled in UC San Diego's MFA Playwriting program under the tutelage of Naomi Iizuka.

Genne Murphy is a Philadelphia native, playwright and arts educator. Her plays include Hope Street and Other Lonely Places (2011 Eugene O'Neill finalist, 2012 Azuka Theatre production) and Outside the Wire (shortlist, 2013 BBC International Radio Play Competition). Genne is currently a member of SF PlayGround, the 2015 San Francisco Olympians Festival, and Philadelphia Young Playwrights' Alumni Council. Genne will begin studies for an MFA in playwriting at Yale in the fall.

Eric Pfeffinger is a member of the Dramatists Guild whose plays have been produced by Actors Theatre of Louisville, the Geva, the Phoenix, InterAct, 16th Street and elsewhere. He's developed work with PlayPenn (Malignance, PlayPenn 2006), Page 73, Chicago Dramatists, and the Bloomington Playwrights Project, and he's written plays on commissions from InterAct, the Signature, and Imagination Stage. His plays have been published by Dramatic Publishing, Smith & Kraus, Dramatics magazine, Indie Theatre Now and HowlRound. He's co-author of the novel The High-Impact Infidelity Diet.

JT Rogers is the author of The Overwhelming (PlayPenn 2005) and Blood and Gifts (PlayPenn 2009), both of which premiered at the National Theatre in London and then had their American debuts at the Roundabout Theatre and Lincoln Center Theater, respectively. These and his other plays have been seen across the US and the UK, and in Australia, Germany, and Israel. An alumnus of New Dramatists, Rogers has been nominated for an Oliver Award, received a Guggenheim fellowship, and holds an honorary doctorate from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He is a founding board member of the Dramatist Legal Defense Fund.

Ellen Struve is an Omaha-based playwright and Nebraska Arts Council Individual Artist Fellow. A WhyArts and Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts Community Resident Artist, Ellen has been both a Great Plains Theatre Conference StageWrite and Mainstage playwright. Her play, Recommended Reading for Girls, (O'Neill semi-finalist) had its premiere at Omaha Community Playhouse, the nation's largest community theater, in 2013. She has degrees from University of Iowa and School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

In addition to the above plays and playwrights who will participate in the 2015 Conference this summer, the following plays and playwrights were finalists in PlayPenn's selection process: Good Men Wanted by Kevin Armento, Stutter by Philip Dawkins, The Arsonists by Jacqueline Goldfinger, Queen by Maadhuri Shekar, Good Day by Diana Small, The Great Barrier by Matt Smart, Colony Collapse by Stefanie Zadravec, and Let Me Count the Ways by Martín Zimmerman.

More information about the 2015 Conference, including a calendar of events, will be available later this spring on our website, www.playpenn.org.

For high-resolution headshots of writers or to arrange interviews with selected playwrights, artists involved in the 2015 conference, or members of PlayPenn's staff, please contact Leigh Goldenberg, Marketing Consultant at 917-698-0844 or marketing@playpenn.org

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